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A Vision for Hope & Prosperity for the next decade and beyond.

G O R D O N CAM P B E LL AN D TH E

www.bcliberals.com

We can work

Wonders

I am excited about our future. I was born here and I know what we can accomplish when we unite behind a common purpose. In BC there is a special spirit. It’s the spirit that reaches beyond ourselves. It’s the spirit of enterprise, community and imagination. Imagine looking at our province 100 years ago and then look at it today.Think of the public legacy of our past – the roads, bridges, dams and power lines that brought us together.Think of all we have built: wonderful schools, universities and colleges to teach students of all ages; excellent hospitals to provide us all with care; and countless community services. This election provides a chance to embark on a New Era of enormous scope to build on that proud legacy.Together we can reverse the NDP’s decade of decline, incompetence, mismanagement and betrayal of trust.We can cut personal income taxes and unleash the power of a thriving free enterprise economy. We can restore the sense of hope and prosperity that deﬁned BC’s past, to build a future in every community that is ripe with opportunity for our children and families. We can create a public education system that’s the envy of the world and develop a public health care system that meets the needs of all BC families, regardless of where they live.And we can bridge the “digital divide, to ensure all British Columbians can participate in the new world of technology ” and communicate through high-speed Internet access. We can revive the spirit of democracy and reform our public services so they meet your needs.Working together, we can become leaders again in Canada and put our province’s economy back on top. This booklet outlines some of the goals we have set for ourselves. I invite you to read it, offer suggestions for improvement, and hold us to account should you honour us with the right to form your next provincial government. We will act boldly and decisively to open up government, to rebuild our economy and to lead the way to a New Era full of promise and potential for you and your family.

Gordon Campbell Leader, BC Liberal Party

2

A New Era of Leadership
We want British Columbians excited about their future again.We want to create a New Era in British Columbia. A New Era of vision, imagination, hope and prosperity. If you are a parent, we want you to know that your children will have the education they need and the economic opportunity they deserve to build a successful future at home in your community. The plan in this booklet lays out a vision for a brighter future that is realistic, affordable and measurable. We will focus your tax dollars on the critical services that you want and deserve, while getting more value for each dollar spent. We will act to build your trust and to re-establish BC’s leadership role in Canada.We want our province to have the leading economy in the country, with the highest levels of private sector investment anywhere. We want our schools, universities and colleges to be at the leading edge of educational achievement and excellence.We want our public health care system to guarantee all patients the care they need, where they live and when they need it. A BC Liberal Government will be guided by the principles and values that are the pillars for prosperity. Fiscal responsibility. Free enterprise. Equality of opportunity and responsibility. Compassion for those in need. An unﬂagging commitment to public health care, education and public safety. Commitment to Canada’s Constitution and equality under the law. Open and accountable decision-making. Belief in a professional, non-partisan public service. Those are the pillars for a New Era of hope and prosperity for all people who live here, in the best province, in the best country in the world.

Our Vision:
1. A top-notch education system for students of all ages. 2. High-quality public health care services that meet all patients’ needs where they live and when they need it. 3. A thriving private sector economy that creates high-paying job opportunities. 4. Safer streets and schools in every community. 5. Better services for children, families & First Nations. 6. The fastest growing technology industry in Canada. 7. A leading edge forest industry that is globally recognized for its productivity and environmental stewardship. 8. Greater equity and equality for British Columbia in Canada. 9. The most open, accountable and democratic government in Canada. 10. Responsible, accountable management of your public resources and tax dollars.

www.bcliberals.com

3

A New Era for BC begins
within
a dramatic • Introduceincome taxes.cut in personal • Pass real Balanced Budget legislation, to make balanced budgets mandatory by our third full budget and to hold all ministers individually accountable. in Budgeting • Pass real Truth ensures all legislation that provincial ﬁnances are fully, accurately and honestly reported under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

90days
land-use by-laws. fourth year, or immediately if any government loses a conﬁdence vote in the Legislature. Establish ﬁxed date for the • tabling of athe provincial budget, and a set legislative calendar.

Within 90 days of being sworn into ofﬁce, a BC Liberal Government will act to initiate the following commitments:
workers’ right to Crown corporations • Restore allcontracts by outlawing • Ensure thatto local zoning and negotiate are subject sectoral bargaining. tendering • Restore opencontracts toon fair • Scrap photo radar in British Columbia. government allow competition for businesses and • Establish a ﬁxed provincial election provide better value to taxpayers. date under the BC Constitution provincial elections force • Appoint an independent task costs Act, tobeensureon a ﬁxed date every must held to review the options, models, and effectiveness of private sector pay equity legislation, and make recommendations to the Legislature. HCL union-only • Eliminate therequirement on “hiring hall” highway construction projects and government-sponsored silviculture contracts. subsidies • Eliminate government some to businesses that give companies an unfair advantage over their competitors.

• • • •

Restore education as an essential service under the Labour Code to ensure that no child’s right to an education is denied during school strikes and lockouts. Pass Merit Employment legislation, to restore a professional, non-partisan public service, appointed strictly on merit and not on patronage. Establish a “Waste Buster” Website for taxpayers to help identify, report and stamp out government waste. Restore workers’ democratic right to a secret ballot vote on certiﬁcation under the Labour Code and ensure the same rules apply for certiﬁcation as de-certiﬁcation.

• Establish a newtoPremier’s Council on Technology help bridge the
“digital divide” and recommend strategies to enable all British Columbians to participate in and beneﬁt from increased jobs and opportunities in the new economy. NDP’s • Repeal thethat has“ﬁxed wage” legislation added huge costs to taxpayers on public construction projects. workers’ their pen• Restore repealing right tothat allows sions by the law some pension plans to suspend pension beneﬁts for early retirees who choose to continue working in their previous ﬁeld of employment.

• Pass a Community Charter to outlaw provincial government
“ofﬂoading” of costs onto municipal governments, and to give local governments greater autonomy and better planning tools to reduce pressure on property taxes.

•

Appoint an independent public inquiry into the fast ferry ﬁasco and the mismanagement of BC Ferries.

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A New Era of Higher Paycheques
We want to cut your taxes and put more money back in your pocket, because when you work hard, you should be able to get ahead.You should keep more of every dollar you earn – and government should take less.That’s the best way to stimulate investment, job creation and a thriving economy that can sustain the revenue growth needed to pay for crucial public services like health care and education. Money is always far more powerful in your hands than it is when government spends it. We can have the most attractive personal income tax rates in Canada, and we will. Within our ﬁrst term in government, BC Liberals will cut the base personal income tax rate to the lowest level in Canada for the bottom two income brackets, covering the ﬁrst $60,000 of income. Lower tax rates will mean higher incomes for all taxpayers. And that will mean more jobs, more taxpayers and ultimately more revenue to improve the public services you want and need.

Tax cuts work
$19 billion $18 billion

Provinces like Ontario have proven that lower personal income tax rates lead to higher revenue – not less. Ontario cut its income tax rate by 20 points since 1996, and personal income tax revenue has gone up by over $3.3 billion a year.
58% 58% 56% $17.6 $18.9

Ontario Personal Income Tax vs. Tax Rate

60%

54%

$17 billion $16.7 48% $16.4 $16 billion $15.6

48%

$15 billion $14.8

$16.3

In Canada, nine provinces cut personal income tax rates since 1995, including BC. In every case, audited ﬁnancial statements show that income tax revenues are now 9% to 36% higher than they were before rates were cut, because the economy is more competitive. This same principle has been demonstrated throughout the world.When income tax rates are cut, tax revenues go up over time as the economy grows.

A BC Liberal Government will:
• Introduce a dramatic cut in personal income taxes, within 90 days. personal income tax rate to • Cut the basethe ﬁrst $60,000 of income, the lowest rate of any province in Canada for the bottom two tax brackets, on within our ﬁrst term. • Honour this commitment without cutting funding for health or education.
www.bcliberals.com

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A Decade of Decline
The NDP has taken BC’s economy from ﬁrst to worst in Canada.
Glen Clark Former Premier Real Per-Capita GDP Growth, 1992-2000
30% 33.6% 27.3% 27.0%

22.3%

20%

24.2%

21.6%

Last in Economic Growth
This chart shows just how badly our economy has performed compared to every other province in Canada. Since 1992, BC’s per capita economic growth has fallen to dead last. Other provinces’ economies have grown ﬁve times more than ours. In 1998, BC was the only province in Canada where the level of real per capita GDP was actually lower than in 1990.
18.6% 17.5% 16.2%
NS BC

Last in Investment Growth
The NDP’s assault on free enterprise has crippled private sector investment in BC. While other provinces have seen investment in their economies soar, investment in BC has dropped to the bottom. BC also had the largest increase in business bankruptcies from 1992 to 1998.
10%

113.3%

Private Sector Investment Growth, 1992-2000

69.5%

65.8%

58.5%

53.2%

49.6%
PEI BC

Alta

NB

Sask

Man

Nfld

Ont

NS

Que

(Source: Statistics Canada)

20%

18.0%

17.5%

16.0%

15%

Private Sector Employment Growth, 1996-2000
14.9%

Last in Employment Growth
British Columbia has the highest unemployment rate west of Quebec for one simple reason: job growth in the private sector has been virtually non-existent under the NDP. As the chart on the left shows, BC ranks last in job creation in Canada since 1996. In fact, from 1994 to 1999, we experienced a net loss of 469 small and medium-sized businesses that moved from BC to other provinces.

12.2%

12.0%

10%

10.9%

8.8%

7.1%

5%

Alta

NS

PEI

Ont

Que

Nfld

NB

Man

Sask

BC

(Source: Statistics Canada)

5.2%

Average Real Per Capita After-Tax Income in BC (1999 Constant $)

Average annual take-home pay dropped by $1,738
over the last decade in BC
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The NDP have doubled the total debt accumulated by all previous BC governments combined. Since 1991, the debt has grown from $17 billion to almost $35 billion. That works out to about $8,428 for every woman, man and child in BC. It’s all borrowed money that will have to be repaid by tomorrow’s taxpayers – by our children and grandchildren. While other provinces have reduced their debt as a percentage of economic growth, our taxpayer-supported debt has gone from 12.5% to 19.7% of GDP.

Debt costs have soared
Despite the lowest interest rates in 30 years, interest costs have soared by almost 45% under the NDP. BC taxpayers now spend more than $2.6 billion a year in interest on dead-weight debt. Higher borrowing costs mean more money to the banks, and less money available for crucial services, like health and education. Annual debt costs now consume almost double the entire budget for Children & Family Services – or half the entire education budget.

Mr. Dosanjh said it: “As a person who has been in Cabinet… I can’t escape the collective responsibility.”

As everyone now knows, the NDP’s 1996 election budget was a fraud. Now they are at it again.The NDP’s new budget has been exposed as yet another “fudge-it budget,” incorporating over $1 billion in “revenues” that rely on changes in accounting methods and politically inﬂated Hydro and ICBC “contributions” to government coffers. It’s time to hold the NDP accountable for their abysmal record in government. Mr. Dosanjh and his colleagues supported every one of Glen Clark’s policies. They voted for eight straight NDP deﬁcits and turned a blind eye to scandal after scandal. Now Mr. Dosanjh has tabled his own “fudge-it budget. ” Mr. Dosanjh sat on Treasury Board during both the fast ferry ﬁasco and the 1996 “fudge-it budget.” He was responsible for the Carrier Lumber appeal, which he ﬁled as Attorney General without even reading the court judgement. That disgraceful ﬁasco alone will cost taxpayers millions in settlement costs, to say nothing of the damage it has done to BC’s reputation. It’s time for a New Era of Accountability. Our plan will deliver real transparent, accountable government.

A BC Liberal Government will:
balance the budget, Establish a “Waste • Conduct a comprehensive audit of • Honestlycutting funding for health • for taxpayers to helpBuster” Website the Province’s ﬁnances within 90 without identify, report days and make the results public. care or education. professional, • Restore apublic service,non- on partisan based merit – not patronage. the • Increase funding forhelpAuditor General’s Ofﬁce, to identify and prevent waste, and to increase value-for-money. the use of • Eliminate to preventSpecial Warrants, government from spending your money without prior legislative approval. and stamp out government waste.

• Pass real Balanced Budget legislation, to make balanced
budgets mandatory by our third full budget and to hold all ministers individually accountable. in Budgeting • Pass real Truth ensures all legislation that provincial ﬁnances are fully, accurately and honestly reported under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

• Establish service plans that include measurable performance standards
and targets for all programs that are annually audited and published, for all taxpayers to see.

• Require Crown corporationsa to be directly accountable to
committee of the Legislature for their ﬁnancial management and budget plans. ﬁxed date for tabling • Establish a provincial budget. the annual

As we move forward to a New Era of hope and prosperity, it’s important for government to safeguard the values that underpin our free enterprise economy.You shouldn’t have to worry about government trampling on your property rights, as we saw in the Carrier Lumber ﬁasco and when the NDP conﬁscated non-proﬁt societies’ assets, without compensation. You shouldn’t have to pay higher than necessary electricity or auto insurance rates, because government wants to play politics with BC Hydro or ICBC.You should be conﬁdent that government will protect your interests. You should be conﬁdent that your public ferry system will not be held hostage to strikes or lockouts. And your local government should be given the tools and resources it needs to better plan and manage local services, while remaining accountable to local property taxpayers.

A BC Liberal Government will:
rights • Protect private propertyfrom to prevent government expropriating assets without fair compensation. a Community Charter that • Passincrease autonomy for local will governments. Hydro and all of • Protect BC including dams, its core assets, reservoirs and power lines under public ownership. BC Ferry routes as • Designateservice, to ensure thatan essential water transportation routes are not shut down by labour disputes.

With all that our province has going for it, people should be ﬂocking to invest, work and live here. But the opposite has happened under the NDP. High taxes, over-regulation and hostile business policies have driven workers and employers out of our province. Since 1997, more than 43,000 British Columbians have left for Alberta alone. Between 1994 and 1999, we had a net loss of 469 BC companies that moved out of British Columbia. We can turn that around in short order with the right attitude, policies and taxation environment. Our commitment to cut personal income taxes is a critical ﬁrst step. But there’s much more that can and must be done. Our plan is aimed at kick-starting the economy in every sector, to create a New Era of prosperity in British Columbia.We want British Columbians to stay at home and to come back to BC, to build a bright future for themselves, their families and their communities.

A BC Liberal Government will:
on investment and the • Eliminate all government subsidies • Phase out taxesstimulate economic • Eliminate landbacklog and delays to business that give some ﬁrms an productivity to in Crown applications, which unfair advantage over their competitors in BC. growth and job creation, in keeping with our commitment to balance the budget and protect health care and education funding. have cost over $1 billion and 20,000 lost jobs. mineral exploration • Encouragedropped by 80% under which has the NDP. Develop• Consider the Northernforthcoming ment Commissioner’s report on offshore oil & gas. British • Increase funding for the to Columbia Arts Council promote and support BC arts, music, artists and culture. “red • Cut theby 1/3tape” and regulatory burden within three years. tourism tendering • Restore opencontracts, toonreduce • Stimulateoperators’with a plan to improve ability to government costs and give everyone an equal right to compete for taxpayerfunded work. successfully compete for visitors from around the world.

•

• •

Make the Workers’ Compensation Board more responsive to workers’ and employers’ needs.

Aggressively support and champion British Columbia’s bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. Push for provincial control over the management and revenues of BC’s offshore ﬁsheries, to improve ﬁsheries management and protect ﬁshery jobs.

• Make the Agricultural Land Commission more regionally
responsive to community needs.

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Richard Stewart Coquitlam – Maillardville

A New Era of Employment

Brenda Locke Surrey – Green Timbers

To compete and prosper in the new economy, workers and employers alike need more ﬂexibility and a modern work environment that encourages innovation and rewards creative thinking and increased productivity.

New jobs Increased ﬂexibility Higher paycheques

Our plan to cut your income taxes will help, by allowing you to keep more of your hard-earned money, so that you know, if you work hard, you will get ahead. But that’s only part of what must be done to create a thriving, free enterprise economy that will stimulate investment and job creation.We also have to restore workers’ rights and modernize employment standards to ensure all workers are treated fairly and equitably.

Our New Era is about liberating our economy and minimizing undue government intervention in people’s lives. It’s about giving employees and employers the tools they need to foster better working relationships and safe, healthy, dynamic workplaces. It’s about giving working women and men the safeguards and incentives they need to participate fully and equally in the competitive global economy in which we all work and live.

A BC Liberal Government will:
democratic an independent task Cut BC’s personal • Restore workers’vote on any right • Appointreview the options, models, • tax rate to baselowest rateincome to a secret ballot force to the in Canada proposed union certiﬁcation. workers a • Give allto competefair and equal chance for work on taxpayer-funded projects through the restoration of open tendering on public sector contracts. Restore workers’ right to • negotiatealltheir contracts by outlawing sectoral bargaining. employers • Give workers andin Employment greater ﬂexibility Standards to negotiate mutually beneﬁcial relationships that help them compete and prosper. costs and effectiveness of private sector pay equity legislation, and to make recommendations to the Legislature. on the bottom two income tax brackets, covering the ﬁrst $60,000 of income, within our ﬁrst term. dramatic • Introduce acut for all personal income tax taxpayers, within our ﬁrst 90 days.

• •

Make the Workers’ Compensation Board more responsive to the needs of workers and employers alike. Eliminate the NDP’s “ﬁxed wage” policy that has increased costs to taxpayers for public sector construction projects.

• Focus on reducing BC’s youth unemployment, which is the worst
of any province west of Quebec. employers, post• Work with institutes and the secondary Industry Training and Apprenticeship Commission to increase training and apprenticeships in trades and technical sectors.

the Labour • Restore balance tothe same Code by ensuring rules apply for certiﬁcation and de-certiﬁcation.

“Under the NDP our forest , industry has gone from the lowest cost producer of ﬁbre in North America to the highest cost producer. We need to ﬁx that, to make our forest industry strong again and ensure a bright future for forest workers. ” Gordon Campbell

• Between 1996 and 1999, 8,500 forest workers lost their jobs. • Since 1997, 17 major sawmills and secondary manufacturing mills and one pulp mill have been permanently shut down. As the Forest Minister has the • Forest NDP’s own former added over $1 billionadmitted,to the Practices Code has in costs
industry – for no public beneﬁt.

A BC Liberal Government will:
a working forest land • Establishprovide greater stability base, to for working families and to enhance long-term forestry management and planning.

Environmental Stewardship
BC Liberals have been ﬁrst to act to protect your environment
commit to ✔ First tointo a themeprotecting Burns Bog, which the NDP tried to turn park. the protection of the Upper ✔ Firstato demand gravel pit (the NDP resisted Pitt watershed from proposed this protection for months).

Throughout the world, BC is known for its spectacular scenery and incredible natural environment.We want to build on that legacy through the proper management of your Crown land and resources. For too long, the NDP have only focussed on the creation of parks, and largely ignored the other aspects of environmental stewardship that are critical to your health and well-being. It’s time for a New Era of environmental management, based on sound science, cleaner air, cleaner water and sustainable practices. It’s time to unite British Columbians to ﬁnd solutions to our common environmental goals and challenges.

✔ propose the protection of drinking water through ✔ First towater legislation. ground ✔ First to call for the cancellation of the Kemano Completion Project. Burrard Thermal, which the ✔ First to call for the phase-out ofharmful effects on air quality. NDP has expanded, despite its ✔ First to ﬁght the Sumas 2 power project.

First to call for a full environmental assessment of the Skytrain project, which the NDP never did.

A BC Liberal Government will:
• Adopt a scientiﬁcally-based, principled approach to
environmental management that ensures sustainability, accountability and responsibility.

• Pass real comprehensive ground water legislation to improve the
quality of British Columbians’ drinking water. Oppose the Sumas 2 power project and phase out Burrard Thermal.

a • CreatetoBC Trust for Public • Maintain the longstanding ban Lands encourage and facilitate on bulk water exports. the expansion of public lands • Replace the NDP’s blanket through private land donations. moratorium on grizzly bear hunting with a proper peer review Pass a Living Rivers Act to protect • and improve BC’s river systems by scientists and biologists, and with scientiﬁcally-based standards for watershed management, enhancements to ﬁsh habitat, and a 10-year program to correct past damage. local moratoriums where grizzly populations are endangered.

A New Era of Connectivity
“We must bridge the ‘digital divide’ to give all citizens the skills, tools and Internet access they need to fully participate in the global technology revolution. ” Gordon Campbell
We live in exciting times.The world is now just a mouse click away, and within a few short years, it will literally rest in the palm of our hands, through the advances of technology. But as many citizens already know, there is a growing “digital divide” between those who have access to new technologies, and those who do not.

Many families have been shut out of the new economy, simply because they do not have high-speed access to the Internet, or because they can’t afford a computer.The lack of computer literacy is also a huge barrier. With real leadership, we can bridge the “digital divide”.We can ensure that all British Columbians, aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike, have the skills, tools and means to fully beneﬁt from, and participate in, the new economy. British Columbians are already proving that they can compete with the best technology companies in the world – and win. We have leading edge ﬁrms in information technology, multi-media software, video games, biotechnology, wireless communications, aerospace, and electronic equipment manufacturing, among others. But we can be better yet.With all of our competitive advantages, we can train, attract and retain the brightest minds in the world. Our quality of life is fabulous.There’s no place more beautiful on the planet.We have a great education infrastructure and an exceptionally talented workforce. All we lack is a government with the vision and will to create a business climate that will attract investment and retain knowledge workers.

A BC Liberal Government will:
to extend high-speed, Create a new Premier’s new Premier’s • Work Internet access to everybroad- • Technology, comprised Council on • Instruct theTechnology to band of business Council on community in BC through wireless technology, cable, phone lines and ﬁbre optics. leaders, educators and researchers from all major technology sectors. The Council will be Chaired by the Premier; it will have a full-time president and it will meet in public on a quarterly basis. recommend solutions to bridge the “digital divide” within 90 days.

•

Use public assets, like roads, railways and power lines to leverage rapid growth in communications infrastructure and broadband capabilities.

• Provide incentives to make computers and Internet access
more affordable for all families. in • Put more computersintoschools and more resources enhancing computer literacy.

14

A New Era for Knowledge Workers
Our vision
We want to make British Columbia a global magnet for high tech investment, growth and job creation – recognized as the best place on earth to live, learn, work and prosper. Our aim is to develop the most computer literate, highly skilled workforce in Canada, with a broadband communications infrastructure and a competitive business environment that is second to none. We want to build an exciting new, modern economy that extends the beneﬁts and opportunities in technology to every family and community in British Columbia.

My commitment
“The Premier’s Ofﬁce will be responsible for the development, funding and execution of BC’s technology strategy. As Premier, I will lead annual ‘Leading Edge’ marketing missions to key international customer and capital markets, to promote BC technology and capital investment. ” Gordon Campbell

New earning power New technologies New discoveries

A BC Liberal Government will:
a dramatic cut • Introduceincome taxes, toin personal attract and retain high tech workers. the federal government • Work withthat our tax treatment of to ensure stock options and capital gains is globally competitive. world leader in of paper ﬂow by • Restore BC as ato give all citizens • Cut the cost government data, E-government, digitizing all and businesses better on-line access to core services, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. procurement • Use on-lineto save costs and technology maximize taxpayers’ valuefor-money on all major government purchases. forms and information possible.

• Double theinannual number of graduates computer science,
and electrical and computer engineering, within ﬁve years. investment in technology • Increase and post-secondary research skills training.

The New Era demands new skills and lifelong learning from students of all ages. Education is the cornerstone of our society – and it has never been more critical than it is today. It’s time we formally recognized that fact and restored education as an essential service, to ensure that students are never again denied access to the education that your tax dollars pay for, simply because of a labour dispute. Every day that a child is shut out of a classroom is a learning day that is lost to that child forever.When you add up all the students in BC who have been turned away from their schools because of strikes and lockouts, more than four million student days have been lost since 1991. But that’s not the half of it. At a time when parents are forced to raise money for bare essentials, like textbooks, millions of dollars have been wasted on fast ferries, Skytrain overruns and other failed NDP megaprojects. And it’s always our children who pay the biggest price for that mismanagement and those misplaced priorities. We will invest in education and make each education dollar go further. And we will grow the economy, to increase the funding available for students of all ages, and provide the best education in Canada.

A BC Liberal Government will:
education as an • Restoreunder the Labouressentialto • Give local school boards more service Code, autonomy and control over the ensure that no child’s right to an education is denied during school strikes and lockouts. delivery of education services, subject to provincial curriculum and testing standards.

• Eliminate the PST on basicby school supplies purchased
Parent Advisory Councils, which volunteer their time and effort to raise money for public schools. that parents of students • Guaranteeschools are entitled to attending volunteer their services, provided it does not result in the displacement of existing staff services. computers and • Put moreresources to in schoolscomincrease improve

for students of all ages. • Maintain current funding arrange- puter literacymusic, arts and physical ments for independent schools. • Ensure thatcurriculums are fully education • Provide teachers with more funded in BC’s public schools. technology training. • Improve school accreditations.

16

A New Era for
Richard Lee Burnaby North

Advanced Education

Barry Penner Chilliwack – Kent

We must do better • British Columbia remains approximately 20% below the national average in degree completion success. were 2,600 for nursing • There 1998/99 butapplicants people coulddegrees in BC in only 949 be
accepted due to a lack of funding for spaces. doctor for every 32,225 British • BC graduates– one worst medical grad-to-population Columbians the ratio of any province that has a medical school. BC • In 1997/98,with had the lowest number of students graduating bachelor degrees in science and engineering compared with Ontario, Quebec, Alberta,Washington State and Oregon.

“Education is our top priority, because it’s the key to any healthy, prosperous society. ” Gordon Campbell

We need more high tech
Canada Total USA Total WA OR CA BC 0 500 1,000 1,500

grads

High Tech Degrees per 1,000,000 People
(Source: Government Statistics / BCTIA)

A BC Liberal Government will:
• Double theinannual number of graduates computer science,
and electrical and computer engineering, within ﬁve years. Edge • Establish a “Leadingbased on Endowment Fund,” a cost-sharing partnership with the private sector, to establish 20 permanent BC Leadership Chairs across the province in the ﬁelds of medical, social, environmental and technological research. current 5% tuition post• Support thefreeze and fully fundcut • Expand training and to graduate and tuition it secondary programs in the current ﬁscal year to offset costs to post-secondary institutes. more Care Aides, Licenced Practical Nurses and Registered Nurses.

• Consult with educators, students and administrators on the hidden
costs to students and institutes of previous tuition freezes that were not properly funded by government and that have reduced student access and reduced course offerings.

• Provide forgivable student loans to BC students attending
accredited nursing and medical schools provided they practice for ﬁve years in underserved communities in BC. medical • Increase the number ofthe next school graduates over ﬁve years. social workers to • Train moreskills shortage thatmeet the critical has developed under the NDP.

•

Work with employers, postsecondary institutes and the Industry Training and Apprenticeship Commission to increase training and apprenticeships in trades and technical sectors.

• •

Strengthen our network of colleges, institutes and on-line learning throughout the province. Increase research funding for colleges, universities and institutes.

www.bcliberals.com

17

NDPCutstoHealthCare Have CreatedaCrisis
Patient Care has Suffered
Over the last ten years the NDP have made dramatic changes in our health care system that have created huge problems for patients and growing pressures on health care providers. Patients have suffered. The NDP cut over 3,000 much needed hospital beds out of the system. So it’s no wonder we now have hospital bed shortages and longer waiting lists. Similarly, the NDP’s cuts to the number of training positions in BC’s nursing and medical technology schools have created a serious shortage of nurses and medical technologists. And the NDP failed to fund the additional spaces needed to provide even half the doctors we must train annually in BC. While wasting billions of dollars on fast ferries and failed megaprojects, the NDP underfunded necessary equipment budgets by about $50 million a year in the last ﬁve years. As a result, hospitals lack the technology and equipment they need to provide proper patient care. The lack of any long term strategic plan has left our health care services in a mess. We must reverse the damage and solve our common health care challenges, before any more damage is done.

Wait Lists have Grown
Patients who need surgery are angry and frustrated that the treatment they pay for isn’t there for them when they need it. The chart on the left shows how surgical waiting times have grown under the NDP. General surgery waits are up by 26.9% since 1995. Neurosurgery wait times have grown by 78.9%. It’s the same story for virtually every other type of surgery. There are now over 81,000 patients in BC waiting for surgery. In addition, others in desperate need of treatment are also waiting for care. In January 2000 there were 700 cancer patients who waited up to three months for radiation therapy. That’s just not good enough. All British Columbians deserve better from our public health services.

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HealthCare is inTrouble
We Don’t Have Enough Nurses or Doctors
A major reason why public health care is in trouble in BC is because the NDP haven’t trained or hired enough nurses or doctors. In fact, over the last few years, the number of practicing registered nurses declined all the way down to 1995 levels. From 1993 to 2000, the number of nursing school graduates also plummeted by 27 percent. It’s been the same story for licensed practical nurses (LPNs). BC lost 1,523 LPNs over the period 1993 to 1999. Moreover, while BC’s population has grown by 50% over the last two decades, the number of medical students graduating from UBC has remained the same. That has resulted in BC having the lowest number of medical students in relation to population of any province that has a medical school. Further, over 300 doctors leave BC or retire each year, making the physician shortage even worse every year.
28,900 28,700 28,500 28,300 28,100

We Don’t Have Enough Hospital Beds
From 1993 to 2000, the number of hospital beds in BC fell by 3,334 beds, a 16% decline. Over the same period, however, our province’s population grew by half a million people. The result is that there are more patients every year, with fewer hospital beds today than in 1993.

We must improve emergency care
Emergency rooms are overﬂowing in BC.We’ve all seen the pictures. Patients get shufﬂed from one hospital to the next – if they are lucky enough to even have a functioning hospital in their community. Patients are also routinely ﬂown to Alberta, because we are unable to care for our own. Public health services are failing patients, even in matters of life and death. We need clear, provincial standards for accessible, reliable health services, and better acute care services, especially in emergency rooms.

We must improve community care
We know there’s an urgent need for 4,200 additional community care beds right now, and 9,000 beds within 15 years. Meeting this challenge won’t be easy, but it must be a priority. The chart below shows how the number of days of residential and long-term care has gone down under the NDP, as a proportion of our population. Hospitals have been forced to shut down beds because the NDP has ignored the advice of physicians, nurses and other health care professionals. That problem has been compounded by the lack of community care beds, because patients needing that care are now often in badly needed acute care beds.
2,500

We must renew public health care in BC
Talented nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, pharmacists, health care workers and caregivers across the province work tirelessly on behalf of the people who live here. They have, however, been working under increasing stress over the last decade. Professional burn-out and overwork has resulted in the loss of nurses, doctors and specialists which has, in turn, reduced patient care. BC Liberals are dedicated to establishing a New Era of health care in BC, with a renewed public health care system. We are going to put people’s needs at the centre of health care again. We are going to make BC a place where health care professionals and caregivers know they are valued. We are going to be sure that people have the care they need, when they need it, where they live. It will take time. It will take effort. But we know that by working together with care providers, health professionals, patients and community leaders, we can undo the damage that’s been done by the NDP’s mismanagement over the last decade.

We must solve the rural health care crisis
The rural health care crisis is placing a terrible burden on patients in communities throughout British Columbia.The provincial government has an obligation to ensure that all British Columbians get the level and quality of care that they are entitled to under the Canada Health Act. That means all citizens should have a comprehensive, publicly administered health care system that ensures high quality, timely health services are universally available and accessible to all throughout the province.Yet anyone living in rural BC knows that this has not been the case under the NDP, and things have grown worse, not better. The physician and nursing supply shortage is but one of several challenges that must be overcome with a comprehensive long-term strategy to restore rural British Columbians’ conﬁdence in their public health care system.We also need more equipment, better facilities, and above all, real leadership from government to ﬁx the problem.

www.bcliberals.com

21

John Nuraney Burnaby – Willingdon

A New Era of Health Planning

Kevin Falcon Surrey – Cloverdale

In 1991, the Seaton Royal Commission laid out a plan for health care in BC.The NDP put it on the shelf. As a result, BC has not had a comprehensive health plan and precious health care resources have not been used to their maximum advantage. The ﬁrst step to properly managing health care is to establish a sound, strategic plan that identiﬁes our immediate, intermediate and long-term health care priorities, and that lays out a workable blueprint for meeting those needs with the resources necessary. There must be clear standards for the level and quality of health services expected. And there must be true accountability at every level for the results delivered.

A BC Liberal Government will:
Work with health care professionals, caregivers, administrators, community leaders, patient groups and the public to develop a comprehensive 10 -Year Health Strategy for BC. As part of that plan, we will:

10-year • Develop aproperly human resource • Develop a Medical Machinery plan, that provides for the and Equipment Plan that ensures training, recruitment and retention of physicians, nurses, specialists and other health care providers in every area of the province, and that addresses critical skills shortages and stafﬁng levels in under-serviced areas. existing medical diagnostic and care equipment is adequately staffed, fully utilized and properly maintained, and that provides for future investments in new equipment and technologies.

• Establish provincial health in standards that ensure all citizens
every part of the province are entitled to equitable, reliable, high quality health services. performance measures • Developannually audited and that are publicly reported for each health standard, to ensure provincial and regional health authorities are accountable for fulﬁlling their duties to provide the prescribed levels of patient care.

• Develop a comprehensivehealth Technology Plan to assist
care professionals in delivering faster, more effective treatment to patients through new information technology and telemedicine. and Remote • Establish a Ruralto ensure all Health Initiative families get the care they need, where they live, when they need it.

• Develop an Intermediate and Long-Term Care Facilities Plan,
that addresses the needs of our aging population and frees up existing acute care beds.

22

Pat Bell Prince George North

A New Era of Health Quality

Elayne Brenzinger Surrey – Whalley

The NDP mismanaged health funding
Only two years ago, NDP Health Minister Penny Priddy claimed that “35% of a provincial budget should be enough to spend on health care.” Clearly it wasn’t. Now, on the eve of an election, health spending accounts for 40% of the budget, and health care is no better. As Ujjal Dosanjh said last Fall, “It’s a lot of money. But it’s never enough.We could actually throw another $1 billion at health care and it still wouldn’t meet our needs.” Fact is, we could deliver a great deal more health service for your health dollars if we properly manage your public health care system.

BC Liberals are dedicated to bringing stability back to our health care system with long-term funding commitments that will build on this year’s $9.3 billion health budget and increase as revenues grow along with our economy. Today, 40% of every tax dollar British Columbians send to government goes to health care.These dollars are desperately needed, due to chronic NDP mismanagement and underfunding that left hospitals and regional health districts in the lurch, and left patients without the care they need and deserve. The NDP underfunded hospital equipment by almost a quarter billion dollars over the last ﬁve years. As a result, equipment has become obsolete, under-maintained and under-utilized.The NDP also cut over 3,000 much needed hospital beds and underfunded medical training, mental health, home care and community care.We must reverse that damage through stable, sustainable health funding.

The NDP broke their Mental Health funding commitment
Two years after the NDP announced their $125 million mental health program, Health Minister Priddy admitted that “While it was announced, it was never in a budget.There wasn’t budget approval.”

The NDP spent a decade denying the health crisis
In February 1999, the Health Minister said, “Is the [health care] system in crisis? Absolutely not.” Almost two years later, Ujjal Dosanjh pleaded ignorance with his own remarkable confession, “I didn’t know the enormity of the problem.”

• Increase future health care funding as economic growth increases
government revenues. health • Work with front-lineon their care professionals to act ideas for maximizing the value to patients of every health dollar spent.

•

Fully fund and implement the $125 million mental health initiative.

regions a level patient care, by • Fund health meet theatneeds of the • Focus funding on the system and necessary to reducing waste in people who live there, regardless of where a service is provided. eliminating administrative duplication and costs from provincial government mismanagement.

www.bcliberals.com

23

A New Era for
John Wilson Cariboo North

Health Professionals
First, we have to train more nurses, doctors, specialists and other health care providers. Second, we have to help those who are already in the system to upgrade their skills and training, and improve their quality of life. Third, we have to attract nonpracticing nurses and doctors back into the health care system, through fair compensation and better working conditions that reduce “burn-out.”

Patrick Wong Vancouver – Kensington

To deliver high quality, readily accessible health care services, we need to dramatically improve the supply of skilled health care providers. The NDP’s cuts to medical and nurse training have created a serious skills shortage that must be addressed.

Fourth, we have to attract and retain more foreign-trained doctors and nurses. Inexplicably, the NDP chose not to use the federal-provincial immigration program that Ujjal Dosanjh signed two years ago. Finally, we must cut personal income taxes, to raise health care providers’ after-tax income and keep them here.

A BC Liberal Government will:
Rural and Remote • Expand training programs for care • Develop aProgram that provides aides, licensed practical nurses and Training registered nurses, in collaboration with our universities, colleges and institutions. forgivable loans to BC students attending accredited nursing and medical schools who agree to practice in a rural or remote community in BC. Edge • Establish a “Leadingcost-shared Endowment Fund,” with the private sector, to establish 20 permanent BC Leadership Chairs in the ﬁelds of medical, social, environmental and technological research. medical • Increase the number ofthe next school graduates over ﬁve years. a Rural and Remote • IntroduceSupport program that Training provides ﬁnancial and travel assistance to health care providers who want to update or upgrade their skills and training. number of residency • Increase theBC’s hospitals in the positions in next ﬁve years.

• Give ambulance attendants better access to training and better lifesupport and communications equipment needed to capitalize on those skills.

24

Dave Chutter Yale – Lillooet

A New Era of Health Services
A BC Liberal Government will:
facilitate tele-health options that will expedite and improve treatments, and reduce travel requirements for Northern and rural residents. rural travel assistance • Develop ato reduce rural patients’ program, transportation and lodging costs to receive treatment that is not locally available.

Katherine Whittred North Vancouver – Lonsdale

that appointees to regional existing • Ensureboards are representative of • Increase technology funding and • Protect current funding andservices health digital infrastructure support to levels of access to abortion their communities’ needs and accountable for their performance in meeting provincial health standards. government • Pressure the federalhealth care to restore all of the funding withdrawn through budget cuts. throughout the province, as a matter of conﬁdence in government.

• Work with non-proﬁt
societies to build and operate an additional 5,000 new intermediate and long term care beds by 2006.

patients living at • Ensure that or long term carehome • Intensify efforts to promote in palliative are wellness and preventative care entitled to the same pharmaceutical beneﬁts as they would have if they were in a hospital. through better education, dietary habits and physical activity.

• •

Provide expanded home care and palliative care services to assist chronically and terminally ill patients with supportive home environments, as an option to institutional care. Build a uniﬁed, universal, and cost-effective health services information network that will improve care and reduce long-term costs.

• Double the Physical Fitness and Amateur Sports Fund to $44
million, to promote physical ﬁtness and participation in amateur sport. preventative • Enhanceefforts, such asdrug and alcohol addiction counselling for new mothers and the reduction of fetal alcohol syndrome.

• Support community
services volunteers and repeal the NDP legislation that allowed government to expropriate community health facilities without compensation.

• Work to minimize interjurisdictional overlaps that are adding
confusion and costs to health care delivery. with • Workothers doctors,apharmacists and to ﬁnd cost-effective alternative to reference-based pricing.

• Provide better home support and home care services.

www.bcliberals.com

25

A New Era for
Linda Reid Richmond East

Children&Families

Bill Bennett East Kootenay

We must do better there are 3,000 • Todaychildren inalmostthan in more care
1995, with less social workers.

• The Children’s Commission concluded in 1998 that planning
for children in care was “inadequate and unacceptable.” Children’s Advocate has • The services to children and said that youth have not improved since 1995, because the Ministry was in a “severe state of crisis.”

Government has an obligation to properly protect and provide for those most vulnerable in our society – especially children at risk and those in foster care. But all the experts agree that this has not happened. As the Children,Youth and Family Advocate recently put it, “British Columbia has made little progress in ensuring that… young people’s needs are met. For the most part, it has been all ” talk and no action. Proper child protection is not a partisan issue.Yet the NDP have consistently refused to accept the BC Liberals’ offer to help improve services. Instead the NDP have ignored the experts’ advice and wasted millions of dollars on endless bureaucratic restructuring and costly social engineering that has done nothing to improve services for children and families. Families with autistic children have even had to take the government to court. We must do better. It’s time we put real accountability into the system and devote the resources to the job needed to put the interests of kids ﬁrst.

• There have been six Ministers responsible for Children in the
last ﬁve years.

A BC Liberal Government will:
• Stop the endless bureaucratic restructuring that has drained
resources from children and family services. families with special needs children. child care choices • Increaseby encouraging thefor parents expansion of safe, affordable child care spaces. with foster parents to help • Work improve care and placements them of foster children. on early the expansion of gambling • Increase emphasis programschild- • Stophas increased gambling hood intervention for that addiction and put new strains on families.

• Enhance training, resources and authority for front-line social
workers to properly protect children at risk and improve services to families.

• Target child care funding to help parents who need it most. a Domestic Violence Prevenpreventative • PassAct that would allow police to • Enhanceefforts, such asdrug and tion alcohol addiction Focus on early identiﬁcation of at• risk children, and measures aimed remove violent offenders from the counselling for new mothers
at preventing crisis situations before they arise. home, rather than forcing the victims to leave to ﬁnd safe shelter. and the reduction of fetal alcohol syndrome.

26

Paul Nettleton Prince George – Omineca

A New Era for First Nations

Gail Sparrow Vancouver – Mount Pleasant

“It’s time for a New Era of reconciliation through treaties that reﬂect our common values. ” Gordon Campbell

BC Liberals are committed to negotiating workable, affordable treaty settlements that will provide certainty, ﬁnality and equality.Treaties are the best way to forge a new relationship with First Nations where aboriginal rights and title are clearly deﬁned under the Constitution. Treaties offer the promise of a New Era of hope, economic opportunity and greater self-determination for all aboriginal people. But, for too long, most British Columbians have felt shut out of the process.

We want to build on the work that has already been done, to fast-track settlements that reﬂect the principles you want and expect treaties to reﬂect.Treaties are for all British Columbians.They will give new deﬁnition to First Nations’ constitutionally protected rights and responsibilities and will be binding on us all, aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike. It’s important that all citizens participate in a genuine democratic debate and move forward to a New Era of reconciliation. We can do far more to materially improve the quality of life, education and health care of aboriginal families. The New Era demands that we do what is right today to make a real difference in individuals’ lives, both on and off reserves, while the negotiators do their work at the bargaining table.

A BC Liberal Government will:
British Columbians a • Giveonallthe principles that should say guide BC’s approach to treaty negotiations, through a one-time, province-wide referendum, within our ﬁrst year. an all-party committee of • AskLegislature to consult with the British Columbians, including First Nations, to draft the referendum questions. Increase efforts to protect and promote aboriginal languages. delegated, permanent First Citizens’ • Offer to negotiate aself-government • Create athat will provide aboriginal municipal-style of Forum with any First Nation that wants to move beyond the failed Indian Act. program funding, • Increase with the federal together government, to solve urban challenges and build capacity. direction from the • Seek clearCourt of Canada on Supreme constitutional questions about aboriginal self-government. citizens living on and off reserves a direct means to communicate with government about their priorities and ideas to materially improve their quality of life today. and • Devote special attentionthe resources to addressing challenges and needs of aboriginal women and youth, and to helping aboriginal families bridge the “digital divide.”

WhereHasYour MoneyGone?
It’s bad enough that the NDP more than doubled the debt accumulated by all other BC governments combined over the previous 120 years. But where has your money gone? What have we got to show for all that borrowing, except a mountain of debt?

“We made announcements about things we weren’t even going to do. ”

Corky Evans, NDP Health Minister Everywhere we look, the quality of services has gone down. Times-Colonist Health care waiting lists grow. Students don’t have textbooks. January 17, 2000 Parents are told there’s not enough money for even the bare essentials for their kids. Children have suffered because front-line workers haven’t had adequate resources to do their jobs. That is the human toll of the NDP’s waste and mismanagement. It is people who have paid the heaviest price, as your money has been squandered on everything but better public services. And it is future taxpayers who will bear the burden of the NDP’s incompetence and reckless borrowing. Don’t let anyone tell you that we can’t improve crucial government services. We will stop the NDP’s legacy of waste and act quickly to better and more effectively manage your tax dollars.

It’s Your Money That’s Been Wasted
x $1 billion in business subsidies. x $310 million for the NDP’s “ﬁxed wage” policy. x $1.2 billion in FRBC spending, without a business plan. x $73 million for a Convention Centre study, again, without a business plan. x $125 million in foregone federal revenue from the Nanoose Bay lease ﬁasco. x $65 million on a photo radar program that has failed miserably. x $ millions on SkyTrain construction overruns. x $ millions in executive sweetheart deals and severance. x $11.4 million for Hydrogate losses. x $ millions for lost court cases and legal bills for Glen Clark and others. x $ millions on government propaganda and political advertising. x $25 million loan for a private company that planned to turn Burns Bog into a theme park. x $1 million in costs for ICBC’s opinion polls in 1999 alone. x $340 million for the Skeena Cellulose bailout. x $ millions in future settlement costs for the NDP’s Carrier Lumber ﬁasco. x $1.5 billion in excess costs for a rapid transit system in the Lower Mainland that will provide half the service for twice the amount that would have been needed for a Light Rail Transit system.

$

28

The $463 million wasted on the“fast”ferries could have paid for all of this – and more.
x 200 teachers’ salaries for one year; x 400 nurses’ salaries for one year; x 200 RCMP ofﬁcers’ salaries for one year; x Elimination of the cardiac and hip surgery wait list; x Construction of 7 new rural hospitals;

“Obviously the fast ferry issue was mismanaged right from the beginning and I was part of the Cabinet. I was on Treasury Board…”
Ujjal Dosanjh, July 5, 2000

For the price of the “fast” ferries, we could have paid for all of the above priorities, and still had money left over. The Auditor General has concluded that, “Cost overruns at BC Ferries should have been avoided. The lessons from the Coquihalla Highway experience were there; they just weren’t heeded.” For that alone, every NDP MLA who voted for the fast ferries and failed to protect the taxpayers’ interests should be held accountable. More importantly, future governments must learn from this ﬁasco, to ensure that nothing like it ever happens again. During the NDP leadership campaign, Ujjal Dosanjh said, “Only through a proper process will our government avoid the mistakes and ﬁnancial recklessness of megaprojects like fast ferries.” He said, “The public’s right to know is paramount.” Yet as Premier, he has done everything in his power to frustrate the public’s right to know and prevent anyone from being held to account.

A BC Liberal Government will appoint an independent public inquiry into the fast ferry ﬁasco and the mismanagement of BC Ferries.
29

Roger Harris Skeena

A New Era of Public Service

Christy Clark Port Moody – Westwood

“We became the employers that we always wanted to legislate against…”
Corky Evans NDP Leadership January 15, 2000

BC Liberals will reform how government works from top to bottom, to create the most open, democratic and accountable government in Canada. British Columbians know that our institutions need to be reformed, to ensure all MLAs are accountable ﬁrst and foremost to the people who elected them.You deserve a chance to participate in that process of democratic renewal, and that’s what our plan for a New Era of Public Service is all about.

Real reform

A BC Liberal Government will:
• Pass Merit Employment legislation, to restore a professional,
non-partisan public service founded strictly on merit – not political patronage. dates, • Establish ﬁxed electionheld onto require elections to be a ﬁxed date, every fourth year – and not at the Premier’s political prerogative. ﬁxed date for the • Establish athe provincial budget, tabling of and a set legislative calendar. legisla• Establish workable recall citizens tion, to make it easier for to hold MLAs accountable.

• Ensure that major capital spending • Introduce free votes in the decisions and land-use decisions Legislature, to allow all MLAs
involving the Agricultural Land Reserve, new parks, land claims and tenure reform are decided by Cabinet in public, and not behind closed doors. to vote freely on behalf of their constituents on all matters not speciﬁcally identiﬁed as a vote of conﬁdence.

•

Give all government MLAs a meaningful new role in policy development and service planning through a new system of Cabinet decision-making.

• Appoint a Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform to assess
all possible models for electing the MLAs, including preferential ballots, proportional representation, and our current electoral system. Assembly a • Give the Citizens’public hearings mandate to hold throughout BC, and if it recommends changes to the current electoral system, that option will be put to a provincewide referendum.

• Give all MLAs and citizens a better voice in government through
active legislative committees.

• Establish workable initiative for legislation, to make it feasible
British Columbians to call for a referendum on issues of provincewide concern that fall within the provincial government’s jurisdiction. open meetings at • Holdonce a Cabinetthat are televised least month and broadcast live on the Internet.

• Repeal the NDP “gag law” that restricts third-party advertising
during election campaigns. Act to • Amend the Electionon disclosures eliminate loopholes of ﬁnancial contributions to parties and to include donations of labour.

The challenges in crime prevention and law enforcement are endless. Government has a fundamental duty to protect its citizens and maintain law and order. Public safety is a cornerstone to our quality of life. We can do better on every front to enhance public safety, if we get our priorities straight in government. The NDP have decimated BC’s auxiliary police force. They have taken ofﬁcers who should be enforcing trafﬁc safety and stopping crime, and turned them into photographers who sit in photo radar vans.That’s a waste.
Geoff Plant Richmond – Steveston

• BC has the highest in property crime rate
Canada.

• In 1997, there were 1,100 auxiliary police ofﬁcers in
BC. By 2000, there were only 417 ofﬁcers. increased • RCMP vacanciesand a by 40% in 1999, vacancy problem persists.

We must provide better public safety for your tax dollars. From community policing, to the administration of justice, to our corrections system, the public demands stronger, more determined leadership, with one law for all British Columbians.We all share the same goal: safe streets and safe schools.Together, we can achieve that in every community.

A BC Liberal Government will:
property • Ensure all laws are equally applied • Scrap photo radar, to put street, • Fully protect privatetenure rights. and enforced for all British police ofﬁcers back on the rights and resource Columbians. enforcing trafﬁc safety. Vigorously defend the • ownership of provincialCrown’s land Return 75% of all trafﬁc ﬁne Hold the line on court fees, to • revenue to municipalities, to • ensure that everyone has affordand resources. improve community policing and able access to our justice system. pressure the federal • Continue to to scrap mandatory crime prevention. government Fight child prostitution and • gun registration and put those police ofﬁcers • Ensure auxiliary and armed to are youth crime with legislation resources into ﬁghting crime. aimed at providing greater properly trained protection to children at risk of protect their communities. Violence • Pass a Domesticthat will enhance exploitation and greater parental Prevention Act Pressure the federal government to • fulﬁll its contractual obligation to responsibility for children who protection and reduce domestic fully ﬁll all RCMP vacancies. commit property crimes. violence, especially for women and children.

www.bcliberals.com

31

Lynn Stephens Langley

A New Era of Equality

Lorne Mayencourt Vancouver – Burrard

For too long, British Columbians have not had a fair shake in Confederation, or often, even within our own province.That must change. Our province does not get its fair share of federal transfer payments or federal government contracts. We are not equally represented in Parliament, or in federal institutions. Similarly, rural British Columbians have not had their fair share of revenues.They have had their voices and interests ignored at every turn, and seen their communities suffer. The NDP have also treated equality issues as so-called “wedge issues,” using women, aboriginals, seniors, gays and lesbians, multicultural groups and others as political pawns to try to gain partisan advantage. That’s no way to build our future.

We must start treating all citizens fairly, equally and with respect, regardless of where they live or who they are. A BC Liberal Government will be guided by the principle of equality. Equality for all British Columbians, and equality for every region and every province in a stronger Canada. A Canada that celebrates diversity and discriminates against no one. Equality of opportunity, responsibility and rights is what our Constitution guarantees. And all British Columbians are entitled to no less.

Equality of Opportunity Equality of Responsibility Equality of Rights

A BC Liberal Government will:
equality of rural communities of • Stand up for theall provincesall • Ensure that ourand education • Invite all MembersBCthe BC Canadians and under have the health Legislature and all Members the Canadian Constitution. services they need. Fight for • tax dollarsBC’s fair share of federal • Insist on equal, non-discriminatory through a more voting rights for all Canadians in equitable distribution of federal government transfer payments and contracts. respect of the governments that rule their lives. of Parliament to hold annual joint conferences aimed at publicly identifying and overcoming issues of regional alienation within Canada and BC.

• Work withaother provinces to negotiate more equitable federal
equalization program that is consistent with the Constitution.

laws respect all aboriginal • Work to ensure thatthe same legal • Ensure that all BCguaranteed to the equality rights governments have Columbians • Ensure all British to legal • Give local governments more have equal access control over their affairs through a new Community Charter. representation and justice. status in BC as they do in every other province. all British Columbians under the Constitution.

• Push to eliminate interprovincial trade barriers.

32

A New Era of Common Purpose
Gordon Campbell Vancouver – Point Grey

Over the last several years, Gordon Campbell has brought together the largest coalition in BC history. The BC Liberal Party has well over 100,000 members and is growing stronger every day. Former candidates and MLAs from several other parties have joined Gordon Campbell’s team, to help elect a BC Liberal Government. Former BC Reform MLA, Richard Neufeld, has joined the BC Liberal Caucus. Former Reform BC Leader, Jack Weisgerber and former NDP Cabinet Minister, Jackie Pement are now on our side. And that’s just a few of the many thousands of former members of other parties who have united to help elect a BC Liberal Government. If we stand together, united and strong, there is no limit to what our province can accomplish.We can unleash the power of free enterprise, and get rid of the NDP government.

“I’ve worked with Gordon and his BC Liberal Caucus, and I can tell you, he has shown leadership in everything he’s done. He has built a strong team that’s effective, united and ready to govern. If I could turn back the clock I would change the role that I played in the last election. I’m not going to make the same mistake again. I’m going to do everything in my power to help Gordon Campbell’s BC Liberals form the next government.” Jack Weisgerber, Former Leader of Reform BC

It’s time to put aside our small differences of the past and focus on our common goals for the future. Fixing the economy. Job creation.Tax relief. Better public health care and education. Safer streets and schools, and better services for children and families. Those are the priorities that are really important. And all of them transcend partisan politics. In the end, what really matters is that you elect a government that is caring, competent and true to its word. A government that will properly manage your hard-earned tax dollars. After all the scandals of the last decade, it won’t be easy to restore public trust in government. But it’s time for stability. Since 1995 alone, we’ve had four premiers and 109 Cabinet changes. It’s time to put the NDP Era behind us. It’s time to move past all the scandals and ﬁascos that have shaken your faith in government. If elected, a Gordon Campbell government will serve you and all British Columbians with honour, respect and integrity.We will keep our commitments and our MLAs will always remain accountable to you. We ask for your support, to let a BC Liberal Government earn your respect and conﬁdence over the next four years.